Freo’s Connor Blakely said that the playing group are up and about ahead of Saturday’s clash against the top-of-the-table Geelong Cats at Optus Stadium.
The versatile midfielder said that he and his teammates hold the belief that they can push the Cats for the four points.
“If you didn’t think you were capable (of winning) going into a football game, you shouldn’t be playing and shouldn’t be out there at all,” Blakely said.
“All 22 players plus coaching staff have full faith in out ability to get it done at the weekend.
“We’re really excited. It’s a great opportunity for us to bounce back.”
Blakely said the playing group reflected on the season to date during their recovery session on Wednesday in Cottesloe.
“We had a good chat this morning about how the season has gone,” Blakely said.
“Our first 12 rounds, we were really happy with how we’ve been going.
“In the past six weeks - you could look at the Eagles game and last weekend against the Western Bulldogs - they were just a couple of outlier games where we didn’t deliver on our game plan and didn’t implement how we wanted to play with and without the ball.
“It’s a really good chance for us to bounce back, see where we’re at and see how we go up against the league leaders in Geelong.”
Blakely, who has agreed to a three-year contract extension, said that the playing group took responsibility for Freo’s recent drop in form.
“We’re the ones out there representing the footy club and we’ve got to take full responsibility of how we’ve been playing lately, it hasn’t been up to scratch,” Blakely said.
“(Ross Lyon) has all the things that he wants us to implement on game day, and we just haven’t been doing that well enough.
“There’s only so much that a senior coach can do, and at the end of the day, the responsibility falls on the 22 guys out there.
“We haven’t been delivering as well as we were at the start of the year, and we’re hoping to get back on the winning board this weekend against Geelong.”
